"Microsoft today announced the global availability of its popular Windows operating system, Windows 8. Beginning Friday, Oct. 26, consumers and businesses worldwide will be able to experience all that Windows 8 has to offer, including a beautiful new user interface and a wide range of applications with the grand opening of the Windows Store." I'm still not clear on what '12:01 AM local time' means, but if it means it goes on sale in every country on 12:01 AM, I'll be buying in a bit over an hour!

Maybe that was true here on OSNews, but I distinctly recall Windows 2000 being lauded as the best software to ever hit a PC back in its heyday. In fact, the current "Windows 7 is awesome, Windows 8 sucks balls" attitude that is frequently displayed here and elsewhere mirrors the "2000 vs XP" attitude back in those days.

The question is, will 8 be like XP and evolve into a useful OS over time?